1.) Field of the Invention
The embodiment disclosed herein is in the field of dental instruments. More specifically, the embodiment relates to dental wedges that are used in dental procedures for restoring carious teeth.
2.) Prior Art
Restoration of cavities between teeth is a daily part of dentistry. When these carious lesions destroy the exterior tooth surface, a matrix band is placed around the prepared tooth to help retain the restorative material in place and thus provide for a proper anatomic shape of the repaired tooth.
The dental wedge has been used between teeth to help adapt the matrix band to the tooth being restored to keep moisture out and also to help separate teeth. FIG. 1 demonstrates a dental wedge of the prior art. Unfortunately, proper band adaptation can be difficult to achieve in part due to many variations in tooth contours. A loose fitting matrix band can allow blood, saliva or other contaminants to seep into the dry cavity preparation. Moisture contamination of the dental restoration will compromise the longevity of the restorative material.
Inventors have been filing patent applications to solve this problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,714 to Gores (1975) attempted to solve the problem by using a folded plastic wedge. This wedge can lacerate gingival tissue, creating more bleeding.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,199 to Weikel (1984) attempts to develop a less traumatic wedge by impregnating a hemostatic agent into the dental wedge to help control the bleeding, but does not address other forms of moisture such as saliva or crevicular fluid surrounding the matrix band.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,400 to Asher (1996) claims to solve this problem by using an expanding dental wedge, which absorbs moisture but does nothing to draw the moisture away from the cavity preparation. Any movement around the band may cause the saturated wedge to contaminate the cavity preparation.
Prior wedges have included various forms of wedge designs that try to address the problem of moisture contamination but make no attempt to aspirate the moisture away from the cavity preparation. What is needed is a wedge coupled to a dental vacuum device that aspirates the moisture away from the cavity preparation.
What is also needed is a dental wedge that can be easily removed from the oral cavity in the event a wedge inadvertently dislodges into the back of the throat. Aspiration of a dental wedge into the airway can lead to a serious medical emergency.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,007 to Stanwich, et at (2002) addresses this problem by attaching a removable handle to permit easy placement, but does not address the potential problem of removing the wedge when the handle is discarded. When the handle is removed, the operator needs to be careful to not lose the grip on the dental wedge.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,425,130 to Schaffner, et at (2008) tries to improve the safety by creating a pocket recess wherein a gripping instrument can engage it. This works well as long as the operator maintains a solid grip. Failure to maintain a solid grip may cause the operator to drop the wedge into the oral cavity.